


The Fear Of Falling Apart

by orphan_account



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: High School, M/M, MMORPG, Online Gaming, VRMMORPG, slightly inspired by SAO
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-12
Updated: 2013-09-14
Packaged: 2017-12-23 07:30:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/923593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Frank, a Junior in high school, finds solace in VRMMORPGs (virtual reality massive multiplayer online role playing games.) They allow him to escape from a world where he is ridiculed by his teachers and his peers. By playing House Of Wolves Online, he feels like a true warrior, someone who can conquer the world. But when one of his friends is found dead with a weapon from the game being the thing that killed her, Frank is forced to enter a world full of deception and lies. But most importantly, he has to fight for his life. He needs to fight to survive. [[ABANDONED]]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Camisado

**Author's Note:**

> Hellooooo. I haven't posted on here in nearly one year, yikes. Anyways, if you're on Tumblr something you may have noticed is that a bunch of My Chem fans got into anime after the split. I am one of these people. Upon watching Sword Art Online, I was inspired to write a fic about VRMMORPGs, and death games. Hence, The Fear Of Falling Apart was born! The title in inspired by a lyric in the song This Is Gospel by Panic! At The Disco (thanks guys.) So, without further ado, here is the fic :D

**Chapter 1: Camisado**

 

 “Switch in!”

Frank jumped out of the way as his partner, Kambria, went in to battle Masgruk, the sub-boss to dungeon 10.

“Treasach, back me up!”

 “I got you!”

 Frank went in to hack and slash the monster’s legs as Kambria fought its front. This is what Frank loved. The hacking, the slashing, the fighting… This was the best part of House Of Wolves Online for him. He loved how exhilarated he felt whenever he was fighting alongside his friends, gradually working their way to the end of the level.

He watched as the virtual blood gushed from Masgruk’s legs, from the wounds he had made with his weapon, the Ardrian Rapier. He loved how the gems on the hilt glistened and shined as he killed the monsters in the game, and how the icy blue of the blade looked against the stark red of the blood that so often stained it.

“Help!”

Frank dashed away from the side just as Masgruk’s tail swooped in to crush him and joined Kambria at the front of the monster. Masgruk’s face contorted at the sight of Frank, all of its green scaly wrinkles folding into even deeper creases at the prospect of fighting a second challenger.

“I’m gonna blind him, spot me!”

Kambria nodded. “Right!”

Frank took a deep breath as he grabbed onto Masgruk’s stained loincloth, and hoisted himself up to grab onto a fold of fat. He continued to hoist himself up, and narrowly missed Masgruk’s swatting as he struggled to scale his side.

Finally, he got to the eyes. They were a pale yellow, with bright red irises and bloodshot scleras. Frank lifted up his rapier and proceeded to stab Masgruk right in the pupil and enjoying the shower of blood that rained down on him and his cloak. He scrambled to stab the other eye, and then jumped to the ground, hearing the blood-curdling roar that Masgruk let out. 

“Kambria, go for the heart!”

She started sprinting towards Masgruk, but before she could get to higher ground, she stopped in her tracks abruptly.

“Kambria, what the fuck are you doing?! Kill him!”

“Tr… Treasach… Help…”

“Fucking ki-“

Frank stopped when he saw what had stopped her. A large, brick red and silver blade was jammed into her stomach, and blood slowly flowed out of the wound. Masgruk was blindly flailing around, now without a weapon.

“Shit, are you ok? Can you still fight?”

She coughed up a pool of blood and shook her head. “I’ll respawn, it’ll be fine. Kill him for me, ok?”

Her body slumped down and the X indicator appeared above her head, indicating that the character had died. _Fuck,_ Frank thought. He hated fighting alone. He had been killed numerous times in battle while alone, so when Kambria had suggested they party, he had grasped at the chance with glee. They had defeated seven dungeons together, and through this had developed a good friendship in real life. Frank looked forward to the time he was able to talk with Kambria, whose real name was Amber, on video chat after his school day had ended.

But now she had died, and it was up to him to defeat the sub-boss. They had had a lot of trouble defeating Masgruk, but Frank was determined to beat it this time. After all, he and Kambria had been training for two weeks to prepare, and he wasn’t about to let those weeks go to waste. Besides, he wanted the drop items, which were high-level cloaks he had lusted over since starting the game six months ago.

“Get ready to die, motherfucker!” Frank screamed. This monster did _not_ get to kill his friend and get away with it.

He left Kambria’s body and ran towards Masgruk, who had heard his voice and sought him out. The ground shook as Masgruk struck it with his large fist, and Frank fell to the ground, but quickly got up again and continued to charge towards Masgruk. He knew that this was the part of the battle where it got increasingly harder, though he had never blinded Masgruk before, so he had no idea what the battle was going to be like from then on.

He had to think quickly, as he saw the blade from earlier regenerating in the sheath at Masgruk’s side. He didn’t want to get killed just to respawn at the beginning of the dungeon yet again.

Frank dashed towards the underneath of Masgruk’s legs, grabbed onto the loincloth and hoisted himself up as he had done earlier. Feeling the strange weight on his body, Masgruk attempted to shake Frank off, but Frank clung onto the thin leather belt that surrounded Masgruk’s waist.

_I’m going to need to climb up to his heart… Like a rock climbing wall._ Frank stabbed Masgruk’s pelvis with his rapier and held on as the monster attempted to shake him off again. Frank lifted himself up and found a fold where he could hold on, then pulled the rapier out of Masgruk’s pelvis and thrust it into the space above him, right near the stomach.

He felt his hair being snatched and an excruciating pain at his scalp as he realized that Masgruk had found him. He pulled the rapier out of its hilt and stabbed the meaty fingers that were pulling his hair, hearing a scream coming from above him and blood raining down on his head. He then took the rapier and stuck it back into the stomach, and continued to climb up Masgruk using his rapier as a sort of footrest to guide him.

He got up to Masgruk’s chest moments later, and felt a white hot heat coming from the skin he was positioned on. _So this must be the final attempt to kill me,_ Frank thought. He wasn’t going to let it stop him. Despite his hands sustaining burns and his rapier feeling like it was shoved into a fire, he slowly hoisted himself up to be level with the area where Masgruk’s heart would be.

“Fuck-“ He pulled back. “YOU!”

He sunk the rapier into Masgruk’s chest and felt his face being splattered with blood. The heat suddenly went away and he sighed in relief as Masgruk’s body started to shake. A deep groan came from within the monster, and Frank was thrown onto the ground as the shaking intensified. With a burst of steam, Masgruk’s body erupted into thousands of pixels, and eventually disappeared. Frank’s rapier dropped to the floor, as well as the cloaks Frank had won. A giant “congratulations!” sign popped up and Frank smiled to himself. _Finally._

He pulled up his menu and scanned his friends list as he looked for Kambria’s name. However, he couldn’t see the name pop up where it usually was.

“What the fuck?” he muttered to himself. Usually the names of the players stayed on the lists even if they had been slain, or if they had logged out. “Maybe they unfriended us…”

He pulled up the database and typed in her name, but it didn’t show up despite his numerous searches. _Huh._ Oh well. He would just have to text her about it later.

Frank quickly logged himself out and smiled at his time. He had gotten in three hours today. It jeopardized the time he had for homework, but who did that stuff anyways? 

What Frank hated was removing the Plug In Gear, or PI-GEAR, after playing HOWO. It reminded him of the loneliness he sometimes felt whenever he had nothing to do. Sure, he had friends, but none of them ever wanted to hang out, or when they did, it was just to rag about their boyfriends or talk about makeup, which wasn’t Frank’s cup of tea. And besides, he couldn’t talk to them about HOWO, since they were all girls who didn’t care about “stupid boy games.”

He put the PI-GEAR on his night table and immediately went to his computer where he opened up his video chat service and searched for Amber. Her indicator was grey, which meant she was offline. _Huh. Maybe she’s still playing?_ He sighed and logged out. He _really_ didn’t want any of his other friends seeing that he was online and engaging a chat, and besides, he needed something to eat and time to attempt to make a scratch in his ever growing pile of homework. He had no idea why his teachers had decided to pile on literally dozens of pages this early on in the year, but who was he to complain? He was a Junior now, and he had been warned. But still, it was increasingly frustrating having to juggle the homework and his own life as they often clashed.

With a sigh, he got up from his desk and went to the kitchen, opening the fridge and feeling his shoulders slump when he saw that there was practically nothing in there that he could eat. _I guess it’s PB &J again…_ He went to the pantry and pulled out the peanut butter, grape jelly, and bread, and proceeded to make himself a sandwich. Frank often wished that making food in real life was as simple as making it in HOWO, ad you only had to press a few buttons before you could get something extravagant, like a pot roast or a borscht. Shelving the ingredients, he trudged back to his room and pulled his backpack up to his bed and started on his homework. _Algebra, physics… Fuck._ Oh well. It had to be done. If only Amber had been online, they could have suffered together.

 

*

 

It had been a hard day at school for Frank. On top of his teacher yelling at him for not completing the work, his friends had ditched him to go smoke under the bleachers, so he had been left alone at lunchtime. He had been snickered at by the Seniors for being alone and reading a gaming magazine, but in a way, Frank had relished that time alone as he never got to do the things he liked around his friends.

He walked into his room and slumped down on the bed while taking a deep breath. Finally, he was home. Finally, he could play HOWO, his safe haven away from the idiotic teachers and ignorant classmates he had to deal with every day.

However, it had been a few days since Amber had logged on to HOWO, and her name remained in the grey on the video chat service. They had never gone this long without talking since the first time they chatted. Frank had texted her a few times, but she had never replied, and the texts were never read. It was odd behavior.

Frank couldn’t blame her, though. After all, she _was_ a Sophomore at Columbia, and she had a lot of work every day, sometimes even more than Frank had. So he understood that maybe she was being bogged down with work.

Sighing, he took his PI-GEAR off the shelf beside his bed and switched it on, slipping it onto his head. Today was a training day. He had looked up the level of the final boss of dungeon 10, and he wasn’t going to defeat him going in at his level.

The virtual world of HOWO flickered before his eyes and focused slowly. Frank had spawned in his living town, back in level 5, which had been the only thing he could afford at the time. He had grown to love the little place, as it felt cozy to him, much more like a home than his actual house in real life.

He walked to his closet and pulled out one of the cloaks he had won after defeating Masgruk, and slipped it on. It was made of a thick black material, and clung perfectly to his shoulders. Despite being thick, it was lightweight, something Frank could easily dash around in while in battle. A near identical cloak to the one he was wearing hung in the closet. It was the second drop item for defeating Masgruk, and Frank intended to give it to Kambria when she decided to log back in.

He spent a few hours out in the fields in front of the ninth dungeon, defeating multiple enemies and animals and never dying once. Frank hated grinding, but he knew it was necessary. It wasn’t something he ever enjoyed doing in VRMMORPGs, but it was something that all of them had in common, which felt incredibly tedious to Frank.

He managed to gain a level before he decided to log out. It was great progress for the day. Usually, he managed to gain a level every three days or so, but defeating Masgruk had gave him an enormous amount of XP, so he wasn’t complaining. It would be hard for Kambria to catch up to him, though. It was already harder for her to level, as she wasn’t as experienced as Frank. But she always managed to catch up to him before they went in to defeat a sub-boss or boss. She was reliable that way.

After Frank had removed his PI-GEAR, he checked his phone and noticed he had a missed call from Amber. She had called him about a half hour before he logged out. It was unusual for her to call, as they usually just video chatted or texted. She knew how much he hated phone calls, so it must have been important for her to call him. He shot her a quick text about leveling, and got started on his homework.

After a half hour of working, his phone rang. He picked it up and saw that it was Amber calling him. He put down his work and picked up the phone.

“Hey, Amber, what’s up? Sorry I didn’t pick up earlier, I was leveling, you know how that is…” He laughed lightly.

“Is this Frank?” Huh. That wasn’t Amber on the phone.

“Uh, yeah. Who is this?”

He heard a deep sigh. “Um, this is Leyla Kassabian. I’m Amber’s mother.”

“How can I help you, Mrs. Kassabian? Is something wrong?” Frank was concerned. He knew Amber’s parents lived in Las Vegas, which was far away from New York. Why would they be there in the middle of October?

“Um, Frank, I called you because you were at the top of her contacts from that game she always played. I was hoping you could help me out a little bit, because-“ She paused, and Frank could hear muffled crying. “Because Amber… She died.”

Frank’s breath hitched. “What?”

“She…” He heard her choke back a sob. “We hadn’t heard from her in a few days, and her roommate had been staying with her boyfriend for the week… She… She got back and saw Amber at her desk with a- oh, god-“ She cried for a few minutes. Frank felt the tears welling up in his eyes as he listened. “I’m sorry about that.”

“No, it’s fine. Really.”

She sniffed. “Thank you. Anyways, her roommate found her at her desk with a… A blade in her stomach. Um, her roommate also plays that game that you play, and she said the blade was a weapon from one of the sub-bosses in it…” Frank was silent. “Are you still here?”

“Sorry. Did you… Did you get the name?” It sounded all too familiar. When she had died in the game, it had been with a blade through the stomach.

“Um, I wrote it down…” She paused. “The Calisaith Blade?”

Frank felt the phone fall through his fingers and drop onto his floor with a loud bang. _The Calisaith Blade is what killed Kambria. The Calisaith Blade is what killed Amber._ He could hear Leyla’s muffled “Hello? Hello?” through the speakers but he couldn’t will himself to pick the phone back up. _The Calisaith Blade killed my friend. The Calisaith Blade killed my friend. The Calisaith Blade killed her._

He picked the phone back up after a minute and took a deep breath in. “Mrs. Kassabian, the last time I heard from Amber was while we had been fighting a sub-boss in the game named Masgruk. His weapon is the blade you mentioned. While we were fighting him, Amber’s character was killed the exact same way as how she died in real life. I have no idea what happened, but I can try to find out, ok?”

Leyla sighed deeply. “Thank you so much. I can tell that you were good friends. Take care, Frank.”

And with that, she hung up the phone. Frank immediately dropped his phone and kicked it across the room, feeling disgusted by the feel of it in his hand. His friend was _dead._ One of his only reasons for feeling happy was gone. And she had been killed with the same weapon that had killed her character in the game.

This was some unnerving business. He had to get to the bottom of it.

 

*

 

The past week had been torture. On top of Amber’s death, there had been multiple cases on the news stating that people were dying and being found with the weapons from HOWO being the thing that killed them. It wasn’t just Amber that had died; it was thousands of people of all ages across the globe. Little kids, adults… None of them were alive.

It was a similar story for all of them; either they were with someone or they were found with the weapon that killed them in game lodged somewhere in their real body. Everyone in HOWO was freaking out, some of them trying to terminate their own accounts but being unable to do so. There was either something glitchy about the system, or something sinister was going on behind the scenes. Frank had had enough with waiting around, watching the people who played something he had previously enjoyed so much die every single day. 

It was estimated that there had been 2,000 deaths in the past week, with the majority of the deaths being from low-level players. To Frank, it made a little bit of sense. He knew how often he had died at the beginning of the game, so it wasn’t surprising that the beginning players were the ones who had to suffer this fate. Still, Frank was being extra cautious when he played, never venturing into the 10th dungeon. He stayed in the fields to level, and a lot of people he knew were doing the same.

Frank had just killed a monster when he got the message. It was random; usually, no one messaged a player when their indicator said they were in a field. It messed with their flow and concentration, and that was important, especially these days. The message was from the admins. Usually, they didn’t message the players unless it was to indicate an update or offer.

Frank sighed and teleported himself to the nearest safe town, and opened the message. He saw everyone around him doing the same.

_Players of House Of Wolves Online,_

_Recently, you may have noticed the controversy surrounding our game. Over 2,000 people have died and have been found with weapons from our game being the things that killed them._

_This is not a glitch._

_This was the original goal of House Of Wolves Online. We have waited two years to put our plan into motion, and we are finally able to do so._

_Here are the rules. You must play at least once every five days. Once five days have passed, you will die. When you play, you must play for at least two hours. Play for an hour and fifty-nine minutes, and you will die. If you are killed in the game, you die in real life. There will be no more respawing._

_To get out of this, you must defeat the final boss in dungeon 50 and get the drop item. There are no exceptions._

_Good luck._

Frank couldn’t move. He couldn’t feel anything in his body. He saw the other players around him bring their hands up to their mouths, start sobbing, and going to the side to puke. He wanted to puke, but he couldn’t move his legs. He couldn’t move at all. His heart pounded in his chest and he could feel it in his ears, putting immense pressure on his head.

_No._

_No._

_No._

He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t speak. He couldn’t do anything. Not for himself, not for anyone.

An hour, maybe more, passed. Frank was finally able to shake himself out of his state of shock and pull up his menu. He had been online for three hours, so he quickly logged off. He gained his consciousness back and pulled the PI-GEAR off of his head, throwing it against his wall. He didn’t even flinch at the bang it made when it hit the wall.

He took deep, ragged breaths and struggled to collect his thoughts. _Thousands are dead. Amber is dead. She’s dead. I will die. I am going to die. I should just give up. I will die._

_No._

He got up from his bed and opened his door, then went down the hall to his bathroom where he promptly opened the door, closed it, and puked in the toilet. His body shook as he wretched, and the pungent smell wafted to his nose and made him puke even more. After a while, when his body was emptied, he wiped his mouth and got up from the cold tile, his knees shaking and knocking together.

He gripped the porcelain sink for support as he wiped his eyes with his sleeves, sopping up the tears that had leaked as he had puked. His eyes felt sore, his nose was runny, and he felt hollow. He looked at himself in the mirror and saw his bloodshot eyes, pale and cracked lips, and messed up hair.

Slowly, he turned on the tap and washed his hands. He scrubbed his face with cold water, and ran his wet hands through his hair, taming the pieces that had decided to point away from where he wanted them. He got a glass, filled it with water, and gulped it down eagerly.

When he looked in the mirror again, he saw the Frank he knew so well, except only slightly disheveled. He looked normal, just maybe a little tired. He gulped.

_I am going to defeat this game._

_I am going to beat HOWO._

_I will not die._

_I will live._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Camisado: In military tactics, a camisado or camisade is a surprise attack occurring at night, or at daybreak, when the enemy is supposed to be asleep.


	2. Gerlos

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writer's block will be the end of me. Enjoy!

**Chapter 2- Gerlos**

“Get AWAY!”

Frank was being messy with his fighting. He wasn’t polished, nor was he as fluid as he usually was. The smooth, almost water-esque movements that usually flowed from him had been taken over by stiff and jerky ones. He had lost his flow.

He winced as he felt the wolf bite at his shoulder, and quickly turned around and hacked at it sloppily. After a few slashes, the wolf burst into pixels, and dropped a bag of EXP and a bag of coins. He counted them, and cursed silently to himself. It wasn’t nearly enough.

Field grinding had always been boring and tedious for Frank, but now it held a certain fear for him. In the two weeks since the announcement, there had been multiple deaths all across the servers. These people were either beginners, foolish, or non-believers of the impending death that came with playing House Of Wolves Online. They had been ignorant, claiming that the message they had received from the admins had been that of a “god complex,” and proceeded to have themselves killed in game, only to never respawn.

Two of these people were friends of Frank. Nasmar and Wexna had been atheists in the outside world, so it was accurate that their real life beliefs had followed them into their fantasy lives. When Frank had tried to warn them about Kambria, they had just laughed in his face and told him to “stop being such a follower, you know it isn’t real.”

Nasmar had walked into a high level chamber with Wexna on his tail. Frank had watched as Nasmar took hit after hit from the enemies, smirking as his health went down. Wexna had done the same, until Nasmar’s avatar was slumped with an X over his head and erupted into pixels. Wexna had tried to escape then, and Frank had tried to help him, but the chamber was too high level for Wexna, who eventually suffered the same fate as his friend. Frank, who had been a much higher level than the both of them, had defeated the rest of the enemies with ease, and cried over the drops that he had earned, eventually tossing them into the donation pit in Asarea, the beginning town. Some newbie would probably relish at the rare items, not knowing that they had come at the expense of two of Frank’s friends being killed in the process.

Still, Frank had to trudge on despite the idiocies of his friends. His friends in real life had been grinding his gears, too. It was like they had just discovered the act of picking someone apart. Although they didn’t do it to the person’s face, Frank still felt sick to his stomach whenever they decided to pick on someone. And it was for trivial things, too, such as their appearance or how many people they had hooked up with. They instantly deemed people with labels they didn’t deserve, such as “slut,” “thief,” “obese,” etc. It was like they had no filter to put over their disgusting mouths. Frank couldn’t leave them, though. Someone had once left their little group and his friends had proceeded into bullying her out of the school. It was Frank’s Junior year; if he were to leave them now, he would either never find friends, or suffer the same fate that the other girl had. 

The pressures from school and from HOWO were seriously affecting Frank’s mental state. He couldn’t abandon the game, and he couldn’t leave his friends. Doing both would mean either real or social suicide. He didn’t have anyone to talk to about HOWO or his friends. Usually, he would confide in Amber, but she was gone. His mother didn’t care about his friends, and didn’t even know about the HOWO situation, so that was out of the question. And his friends judged him for even playing VRMMORPGs, so they were out of the question, too. It was just hard with Amber gone. He felt alone, truly alone, for the first time in his life. And being alone at 17 wasn’t ideal, not for anyone.

Frank sighed and got up from his kneeling position. If he wasn’t careful, his HP could easily drop or even run out. He picked up his rapier and started to jog through the field, looking for any wolves or other enemies he could use to grind. It seemed like nothing wanted to spawn in front of the dungeon. _Did I deplete the resources?_ This had never happened to him before. Usually, enemies were plentiful, especially in front of dungeons. But it was different today, it seemed.

“Hey, you! Watch out!”

Frank spun around to see a wolf jumping towards him. He instantly panicked, and wasn’t able to grab at his rapier. He had been foolish in not healing before moving on, and his HP was dangerously low, especially for an attack like this.

“I said watch out!”

The wolf erupted into pixels in front of Frank’s face as he saw someone slash at the wolf. A bag of EXP and a bag of coins dropped to the ground, and the person grabbed them quickly and added them to their supply. Frank studied the person. He had black hair that fell just above his shoulders that was parted into a deep side swoop, and was wearing black robes with black, fingerless gloves. His sword, which Frank quickly recognized as the Xoros Longsword, had a dark, almost gunmetal blade, with an almost bat-like hilt that was black, with bright red gems encrusted in the pommel and guard. The player dusted himself off and looked at Frank, who was still stuck in the same place he had been when the wolf had tried to attack.

“Hey, you have to be careful. Are you a new player? No, you can’t be new; you’re at dungeon 10… How long have you been playing?”

This guy was certainly forward. “Six months. I was reckless, I should’ve healed. Fuck, Kambria would be pi-“ Frank cut himself off. Right. She was dead, and had been for two weeks already.

“Kambria?”

“My old partner. She died. I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name?”

The player laughed. “Gerlos. I’m Gerlos. You?”

“Treasach. Thank you so much for that, like I said, I should’ve healed. That was so fucking dumb of me.”

“Relax, we all make mistakes here and there. I was watching you before, though. You looked kind of distracted.”

“Yeah, well, the past two weeks haven’t been exactly easy on me, so it makes sense. Two more of my friends died the other day, so that’s maybe five in total, which is ridiculous. And my partner, Kambria, died a few days before the admins even sent the goddamn message. So that makes it six, technically. Fuck.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t know anyone that’s been killed, but I really do hope you’re ok.”

Frank gave Gerlos a small smile. “Thank you. I’m ok. Um… Do you want to speak somewhere else? I mean, we _are_ being reckless, just standing here in a field and whatnot.”

“Oh! Yeah, sure! Uh… Is Sissry ok? It’s close.”

“Sissry’s fine.”

Frank pulled up his menu and clicked on Sissry, and was instantly teleported there. Gerlos showed up a few seconds after Frank, smiling as he looked at the town. Sissry was covered in banners and flags, all of them shaped differently and all of them in vibrant, rich colors. The stalls that lined the sides of the town were filled with extravagant fruits, supplies, and weapons, all of them more expensive than Frank would have liked. Sissry was an elite town, all of the items being expensive, but for good reason. They were all better quality and lasted longer than normal items. Frank didn’t like this, however, which is why he seldom stopped by Sissry.

“So. Gerlos. Why’d we stop here again?”

Gerlos smiled at Frank and started to walk down the cobbled street. “I guess I just like how lavish it is, and the colors. I don’t think we’ll buy anything. I just like looking at it, you know? I like art in the real world, so I guess it makes sense that I like this place.”

“Huh. It does make sense. And yeah, I’m not getting anything, though feel free to. It’s ridiculously priced here, I fucking hate it.”

“Well, you get what you pay for, right? I mean, I bought my sword here, and it’s been the best weapon I’ve ever used.”

Frank scoffed. “Oh, come on. My weapon is from Hantul, and I love it.”

“Oh yeah? What is it?”

Frank pulled his rapier out of its holster on his hip. “The Ardrian Rapier. My pride and joy.”

“Huh. Hey, let’s sit.” They had approached a bench, and both sat down, comfortably filling both of the spots available. “Can I hold it?”

Frank nodded. He watched as Gerlos examined the rapier, taking in its appearance. The Ardrian Rapier had a murky blue blade, with its pommel being the same color and holding a large, emerald green gem. The hilt wasn’t decorated, and ended in an icy blue, circular guard that held three gems, which were red, a lighter green, and blue. Frank loved his weapon not only for its beauty, but also for its ease and lightness. He watched as Gerlos almost caressed the gems on the hilt, running his fingers lightly over them. Clearly, he had a thing for gems, as his weapon was covered in them. Gerlos smirked and returned the weapon to Frank.

“It’s beautiful. Hantul is known for their rapiers. You picked a good one, Treasach. I’m actually quite jealous! I used to go to Hantul a lot when I was testing out weapons, and I never found anything quite like this.”

Frank felt his heart flutter slightly in is chest. “Thank you. I’ve been using it for most of my time in the game. I guess I just got lucky.”

“You did, you really did.” Gerlos paused suddenly, bringing up his menu. “I’ve been on for two hours now. You?”

“Uh…” Frank pulled up his menu and looked. “Two and a half. Were you planning on logging off?”

Gerlos sighed quietly. “Yeah. I don’t exactly like playing for longer than what’s necessary, you know? I wasn’t even going to play today; I’ve been so discouraged. But then I just decided to. I figured I would be able to get something important done, and I guess I was right, since I sort of saved you.”

“Then it’s good you logged in then.” Frank pulled up his menu again. “Thank you again for saving me. I’ll see you around, Gerlos.”

Right before Frank pushed the log out button, Gerlos suddenly grabbed his arm. “Wait! Can… Can I add you as a friend? I liked talking to you today, it was… nice, to say the least.”

Frank smiled, and nodded. “Yeah, here.” He sent an invitation to Gerlos, who accepted it immediately after getting it. “Now we’ll be able to see each other whenever we’re on.”

“Yeah. It was nice meeting you, Treasach.”

With that, Gerlos logged out, his avatar fading away slowly. Frank smiled. He hadn’t made friends in HOWO in a while, so it was nice meeting someone with a semi-positive outlook on things, even if they weren’t focused on surviving. It had been a while since Frank had met someone quite like Gerlos. He was intrigued; he didn’t know anything about this player, yet he could tell he was experienced and cared about the other players in the game.

Frank wanted to get to know Gerlos. He hadn’t gotten close with anyone since Amber, but that was just under six months ago. He craved companionship, especially with someone of his own gender. Frank was just genuinely curious about Gerlos. He wanted to know every detail that Gerlos was willing to share, and that sort of scared him. He hadn’t been this eager to befriend anyone in his life. All of his friendships were either gained out of necessity or through others. He hadn’t really experienced getting to know someone one on one, at least, not since Amber. But he was excited, and couldn’t wait to see Gerlos again.

 

*

 

Never had Frank been this eager to get home. The past day at school had been absolutely brutal. As usual, his teachers had been angry with him, this time for not paying attention in class. And his friends had berated him when they discovered why he wasn’t paying attention.

Frank had been doodling all day, specifically swords. Well, specifically his and Gerlos’s swords. They were shitty drawings, sure, but Gerlos seemed to be all he could think about. He friends, of course, weren’t amused with him, and didn’t hesitate to tell him what they thought of his “silly games.” He didn’t even know why he called them his friends anymore. To be honest, they just felt like people to him, not friends. He had watched other people across the corridors, other people who had genuine friends, and he had been jealous. He hated the fact that the only people he could really connect with were online. He hated that the only person he had ever felt 100% comfortable with was dead.

But he had a glimmer of hope, and he believed in Gerlos. He felt as if Gerlos would be like a new Amber, someone who could comfort him and talk to him despite having loads of work. That’s why Frank was eager to get home. He was extremely eager to see if Gerlos was online. Gerlos hadn’t logged into HOWO in two days, so Frank hoped that today would be the day he got to see Gerlos again. If not today, then he would see him in three or so days. After all, everyone had to follow the rules, unless they were suicidal. And Frank doubted that Gerlos was willing to die so easily.

He took a deep breath as he put on his PI-GEAR and waited for HOWO to boot. Before the announcement, Frank had felt adrenaline and excitement at the loading screen. After, he felt depressed, and was reminded of everything he had lost so far. But now, that excitement was slowly creeping up on him at the prospect of maybe seeing Gerlos. Frank was embarrassed at how he was obsessing over this man that he barely knew, but couldn’t help it. Gerlos was just interesting to him. He didn’t know why, but he was. And that’s what made Frank excited at the prospect of seeing him.

He spawned in his house on level 5, and was saddened immediately by his open cupboard. He hadn’t brought himself to get rid of the cloak he had won for Kambria yet, so it just hung lifeless in his cupboard. She would have loved the cloak, its emerald green color looking beautiful against the stark red of her clothing. Frank would probably never find a use for the cloak, anyways. He couldn’t bring himself to donate it either, so it just hung in the cupboard. He figured that maybe, just maybe, he could give it to Gerlos once they had gotten closer. That is, _if_ they got any closer. After all, Frank had still only met him once. It wasn’t like they were as close as him and Amber were.

Frank sighed and opened up his menu, selecting his friends list and scrolling down to the K section. He checked this section every time he was online, hoping Kambria’s name would pop up miraculously. But it was missing every time, as was Nasmar’s and Wexna’s. Putting them out of his mind, he went up to the Gs and saw Gerlos on his list. His name was green, which meant he was online. _Yes! Finally!_ Frank felt himself grinning from ear to ear at this discovery. Finally, he could talk to Gerlos again.

His goal was to befriend Gerlos. He wasn’t going to log off until it happened, whenever that may be. He hoped Gerlos hadn’t been on that long, as he knew that Gerlos usually would sign off immediately after two hours had passed.

Frank decided to warp to the zone where Gerlos was training, which was the same field they had met each other in two days earlier. Frank stepped off of the teleportation circle, and looked around, not seeing Gerlos anywhere. He pulled up his friends list again; no, Gerlos was still there. Maybe he was hiding? Frank pulled out his rapier and started to walk around, not particularly interested in any of the wolves that were spawning left and right.

“Treasach?”

“Fuck, you scared me!” Frank turned around to face a smiling Gerlos, who was holding an EXP sack. “I wanted to do some training and saw that you were here, so I figured we could train together. Is that ok?”

Gerlos nodded, pocketing the sack. “Yeah, of course. It’s more fun to train with others, anyways.”

They headed north, and quickly slashed the few wolves that were trying to attack. Frank was intrigued by Gerlos’ fighting style; it was a lot more fluid than Kambria’s had been, and it looked like he had more ease with his weapon.

“What level are you?”

Gerlos sunk a final slash into a wolf and turned to Frank. “62. Why?”

“Just wondering.”

“Are you thinking about your old partner?”

Frank nodded. “Yeah. She was only in the 30s, so she held me back sometimes. I’m at 55, so it’s still lower than your level, but still. I feel much better fighting with you.”

Gerlos smiled. “I like fighting with you, too. Did you gain a level yet, or do you wanna keep on fighting?”

“I could go rest. I’m not so much concerned as to whether I should raise my level or not right now. To be honest,” Frank said, putting his rapier in its sheath, “I was more interested in seeing you again. You weren’t on, and I was kinda worried. Is that weird?”

Gerlos put his sword in its sheath on his back. “It isn’t weird. You were curious. No one had ever been curious about me, really. That’s probably why I’ve played solo this whole time.”

“You have? How did you get to that level playing solo?”

“I-“

Gerlos paused, quickly unsheathing his sword. Frank reached for his rapier, but before he could unsheathe it, Gerlos had slashed at a wolf that had snuck up on him from behind. With one blow, it burst into pixels, and EXP and money sacks were dropped.

Gerlos laughed quietly in his throat. “This field is getting a little too easy. Mind if we go to Sissry again?”

“Yeah, that’s fine. I’m sorry I couldn’t hear the wolf.”

Gerlos pulled up his menu and glanced at Frank. “I could only hear it because I maxed out my hearing skill. I noticed that you focus more on attack rather than defense or hearing; maybe consider leveling those up, too.” He pressed on Sissry and disappeared.

Frank pulled up his menu and warped to Sissry, where he couldn’t find Gerlos. Had Gerlos logged out? No, he hadn’t; his name would have been red. Frank quickly scanned the main street until he saw the familiar black robes walking amongst the stalls. He quickly dashed over to Gerlos, ignoring the looks he got from the other players for sprinting in a town.

“What you said makes sense,” Frank said, panting as he joined Gerlos. “I never thought about that.”

“It’s how I’m at such a high level for a solo player. I didn’t die much at the beginning because I focused on defense and hearing; if I had focused on attack, I probably wouldn’t be here right now.”

“Right…”

They continued to walk through the stalls, Frank grimacing at the overly expensive prices. After a few minutes of walking in silence, they stopped in front of a pastry stall, where Frank instantly started salivating over the delicious fare it had to offer.

“It all just looks so good!” Frank scanned over the items. “Oh my gosh, especially that one.”

Gerlos leaned over. “The Carac?”

Frank nodded wildly. “Too bad it’s so expensive, though. I love having the food in HOWO because I can’t have most of this stuff in real life, but when it’s this expensive… I doubt it’s worth it.” He moved away from the stall.

“Why can’t you eat the stuff in real life?”

“Lactose intolerant, vegetarian, food allergies, all that shit. It sucks.”

They arrived at a bench. “Sit. I’ll be right back.”

Frank sat down, confused. He watched as Gerlos went back into the plaza, scanning the stalls and trying to find something in particular. He lost sight of him after a while, and decided to tinker around in his menu. He had a few extra points he could spare, so he added them to his hearing skill. All of the sounds of Sissry instantly became crisper, and it shocked Frank. If Gerlos had a maxed out hearing skill, how amazing would this town sound to him? Frank could already make out the faint tune of a medieval sounding music piece flowing from all around him, and he scolded himself for not upgrading his hearing earlier. It already sounded beautiful; he couldn’t wait for the full experience.

Frank was jolted out of his trance when he felt a weight being added to the bench, and a circular item wrapped in tissue being placed on his lap. He looked to his side and saw Gerlos holding the Carac pastry in his hand, taking a bite out of it. Gerlos practically moaned at the first bite; he instantly went in for more. Frank looked down at his lap, picked up the item, and unwrapped it. It was the same pastry he had been lusting over before, the same one Gerlos was eating: the Carac. In the shadow of the covered stall, it had looked appetizing; now, in broad daylight, it looked like the best thing Frank had ever seen. He brought it up to his mouth and took a bite, and closed his eyes. _Holy shit._ He had only had the Carac once in the game, when he was a younger player and had been ignorant to health restoration. Besides, that Carac had been nothing compared to the one from Sissry. He finished it within minutes, and wiped his mouth of the crumbs that had gathered near the edges. His health was fully replenished, but it had been almost full anyway.

“Why did you get these? They’re expensive!” Frank complained.

Gerlos broke into a wide smile. “Hearing you go nuts over it pushed me over the edge. Besides, you said you can’t have the stuff in real life, right? Why not enjoy it now, when it doesn’t make us gain weight, or make you sick? I have money to spare, it’s not like this made a giant dent. I’m not saving for anything in particular, anyways.”

Frank felt his heart warm at Gerlos’ words. “Thank you. I really appreciate it.”

“Like I said, it wasn’t a big deal.”

Frank watched as Gerlos finished the pastry, wiping his mouth clean and bunching up the tissue. He took Frank’s tissue silently, and walked over to the nearest trash bin, where he threw away the tissues and then walked back to join Frank again at the bench.

“So,” Gerlos said after a minute. “I think you’re pretty cool.”

Frank smirked. “What, are you _flirting_ with me?”

“No, not at all! I just think you’re cool, and I was wondering if you would want to party up?” Gerlos stammered.

Frank felt his throat tighten. He still wasn’t over Amber’s death, and she had been the only person he had ever partied with. Being in a party had a lot of weight on it; you had to be together if both of you were online at the same time, you had to share winnings, and you had to protect one another with your life. It was a great responsibility to be in a party. After all, if something went wrong, you could feel extremely guilty, like Frank currently did.

“-and I know you might not like me or think I’m weird, after all, I’m _really_ lame, and I-“

“Gerlos.” Frank cut him off. “I would love to party with you.”

Gerlos smiled extremely widely, grabbing Frank into a hug. “Thank you! I’ve never been in a party before, so you’re gonna have to teach me, alright? I just really really really like the way we fight together.”

He let go of Frank. “I do, too. I think we’ll be a good team.”

“Treasach, I know you’re probably still sensitive over Kambria, right?” Frank nodded. “I just really hope that I can live up to what she was. She seemed like an amazing partner.”

“She was,” Frank said, his voice cracking slightly. “But I know it’s time to move on. Here.”

He pulled up his menu, clicked on Gerlos’ name, and sent a party request. Gerlos pressed “accept” on his own menu, smiling as his name gained the party symbol next to it.

“Treasach?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I… Can I know your real name? I know it isn’t really nice to use real names here, but I feel like I can trust you. You don’t have to tell it to me if you don’t want to.”

Frank smiled. “No, it’s alright. My name is Frank.”

“Frank, huh? That’s a nice name.”

“What’s yours, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Gerlos turned to him and smiled. “Gerard. I’m Gerard.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry for not posting this chapter until today. I got caught up in a bunch of other things, including writing another oneshot for another fandom, and completely pushed this story aside. There isn't a set schedule for my uploads, but it's pretty much going to be whenever I can fit it in, as school starts again in about a week and I have a bunch of other things I need to focus on then. But still, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, as well as the first and the ones that will be coming.


	3. Genesis

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short(er) chapter, sorry. I felt the need to get this out seeing as I had been stuck at what was supposed to be the second part of this chapter for about a week and a half. I'm really trying to keep this schedule consistent, about one chapter every two or so weeks, but it's hard to do that as I just started the new school year in addition to getting a part time job. So again, sorry for the shorter chapter. The next chapter is eventful, so look forward to that, and as always, thank you for reading.

**Chapter 3- Genesis**

_“For homework, read pages 200 to 265 and write a five paragraph response on how you felt the situation could have been better dealt with. This counts for your final grade.”_

_“Are you daydreaming again? Frank? What the fuck?”_

_“Can I have some money? I promise I’ll pay you back.”_

_“Frank? FRANK?”_

Frank’s eyes jolted open as he felt someone shaking his shoulder. He looked to his side; it was just the girl who he took the bus with after school. She looked concerned.

“Frank, it’s your stop. They’ve been waiting for a few minutes. I’m sorry, I couldn’t wake you up.”

He took a deep breath in through his nose, stretching his arms above him. “No, I’m the one who should be sorry. Thank you. I’ll see you tomorrow, I guess.”

He got up and trudged to the bus door, where the driver gave him a pitiful look. It was the same every day. It was like the driver noticed how horrible he felt after school, but didn’t want to do anything about it, instead just giving him a look that made him feel even worse.

It’s not like his day been _that_ bad; it had actually been quite uneventful. He was used to getting heaps of homework and being mooched off of for money. These were everyday occurrences and they had become a part of his routine. Nevertheless, he always felt shitty after school. The only joy he found was going on HOWO to be with Gerard.

They had found out that they were both in high school, so they had coordinated a time that was perfect for the both of them. It gave them a half an hour to screw around before going online, and Frank was grateful for it, as he could either eat or get started on his homework before training. He and Gerard had gotten closer over the past few weeks, so he certainly enjoyed being with him more than being at school. Still, he knew that he had to go through the bad before he could get to the good. It just sucked that it was every single day.

He opened the front door to his house and shut it silently behind him as to not interrupt his mother while she was working. He knew she would go ballistic if he interrupted, so being quiet was the only choice. He went to the kitchen to grab himself a bite to eat, and then walked to his room, opening the door and slumping down on his bed. He grabbed the book he needed to read out of his bag, and spent the next half hour agonizingly only getting through 30 of the 65 pages he needed to read. Before he knew it, his alarm went off, indicating it was time to go on HOWO.

He sighed, and then smiled to himself and he plugged in the PI-GEAR to the wall and slipped it over his head, pressing ON as he did so. He and Gerard would probably talk about school again once he logged on. Over the past few weeks, they had discussed their schools and friends, learning that they were in almost similar situations. They both hated their school, and wanted to get out as soon as possible-though Gerard would be getting out earlier than Frank as he was a Senior. Gerard was often looked at weirdly due to his dark sense of style, and people were often calling him weird or freaky due to his love of MMOs. They had also learned that they both lived in New Jersey, which Frank was excited about, seeing a it would be way easier to meet Gerard in real life if the opportunity ever arose.

He spawned in his house and immediately brought up his menu, clicking on his friends list and going to the Gs. He clicked on Gerlos, and then pressed transport; he was immediately teleported to the front of dungeon 15. They had gotten through five dungeons together in the past few weeks, burning through them much faster than Frank had with Amber. He saw Gerard leaning against the wall, and went up to him, a wide smile gracing his face.

“So, we’re just leveling today?” Frank asked, pulling out his rapier.

“Yeah. I want to fight the boss tomorrow, possibly, so if we could get another level, it would be perfect. Better safe than dead, right?” He pulled out his sword. “Let’s go.”

They walked up to the large doors of the dungeon and pushed them open. This wasn’t a new experience; over the past few days they had breezed through the front rooms and defeated the sub-boss. Today, they were battling the enemies in the front rooms again, just to level. Gerard was still at a higher level than Frank, but it didn’t make much of a difference; they still had a great dynamic and fought well together.

“Frank, on your left!”

Frank whipped around and saw a cat-like creature lunging towards him. He quickly stabbed his rapier into its side, smirking as he heard it howl out in pain. He quickly finished it off, collecting his EXP and money. He ran to Gerard, who was fighting his own creature, and helped him to finish it off.

Gerard gave him a tiny smile. “Thanks.”

“We work better as a team, you know. You always try and run away from me; that’s not what being in a party is about.” He paused, taking a deep breath. “Trust me. Please.”

Gerard gulped, nodding. He put his back to Frank’s bracing himself. Multiple enemies were rushing towards them, flanking them from all sides. Frank tightened his grip on his rapier, waiting. The enemies continued to advance, their cat like statures showing prominently as they eyed Frank and Gerard like fresh meat.

Frank heard the movement a fraction of a second after Gerard. They had decided to pounce, claws extended and fangs bared in a sinister sneer. Frank rushed forward, both hands on the grip of his rapier, thrusting the blade at the enemies. He smirked as he felt the blade pierce flesh, and saw Gerard doing the same out of the corner of his eye. He finished off the few enemies in front of him quickly, and rushed to fight another group.

Eventually he finished off the rest of the enemies on his side, and went to help Gerard. For some reason, Gerard had been having trouble this time around; his mind was focused on something else entirely, most likely. His movements weren’t as strong as they usually were, so when Frank rushed to Gerard’s side to help him, he noticed a look of relief cross his face. Frank immediately took out the enemy that was digging its claws into Gerard’s shoulder, and moved onto another one that was about to jump on his back.

“You alright?!”

Gerard finished off the enemy in front of him. “Yeah, keep fighting!”

The enemy’s numbers were getting smaller and smaller at an almost rapid pace. Frank finished off two that were attacking him, and immediately put his back to Gerard’s to stab an enemy going for them, the blade of the rapier going through its stomach. The enemy erupted into pixels, and EXP rained down onto Frank.

“Is that it?” Gerard panted.

“Yeah, I think so. Le-“

Frank grabbed his rapier and quickly slashed at an enemy that had appeared in front of Gerard. _Shit._ He had forgotten about the last, higher-level enemy that always spawned at the end of the front rooms. Moving quickly, he dashed around it, leaving little nicks and cuts in its protective skin. He winced as he felt its claws sink into his shoulders as it grabbed onto his back. He managed to shake it off, but not before sustaining a great amount of damage before running quickly towards it and slashing his rapier through the air. He felt resistance, pushing harder into the flesh of the enemy before his rapier met the air again. He saw the enemy erupt into pixels, EXP and money bags dropping from its corpse.

“I… I completely forgot about that one. I’m so sorry, Frank.”

Frank shook his head, picking up the bags and putting them in his inventory. “No, don’t be sorry. I forgot too. It’s weird that you didn’t hear it, though; I thought your hearing skill was at 100%?”

“I don’t know, I think I was just distracted. Do you wanna go back to Sissry?”

Frank nodded, putting his rapier back in its sheath. He pulled up his menu, clicking on Sissry and immediately warping there. Gerard followed seconds after, stepping off the teleportation circle and immediately heading for the stalls. Frank followed intently. This was a new found tradition of theirs; after training, they would go to Sissry and get a pastry of some sort. Ever since Gerard had bought Frank the Carac, they had felt as if it was something they just _had_ to do. Frank smiled to himself as they walked through the stalls. He and Amber had never done anything like this; if anything, their tradition was talking on the video chat service while they worked on homework. Frank was beginning to realize that his relationship with Amber had been nothing to compared to his friendship with Gerard; he already trusted with Gerard with his life after only a few weeks. Though it made sense that he had more trust with Gerard; after all, they really were fighting for their lives, not just to have a smaller number of respawns. 

They stopped at the normal pastry stall they usually went to. “So, what will it be today, Frank?”

Frank leaned in, scanning over the pastries. “What’s that?”

“Uh…” Gerard leaned in, lightly brushing Frank’s side. Frank felt himself go red. “I think it’s called a Bossche Bol? It looks cool.”

“Yeah, let’s get that.”

They both straightened up and pressed on the pastry, exchanging their money for the item before going to the bench they normally sat at. As much as Frank hated to admit it, the programmers for HOWO really knew what they were doing. The tastes were so realistic, even if they were virtual. They sat down on the bench and unwrapped the pastries from the tissues they were wrapped in.

“Bon appetit,” Gerard said, smiling.

Frank bit into the pastry and nearly moaned. The taste of whipped cream, dough, and dark chocolate mixed in his mouth, and it was heavenly. He quickly took another bite.

“Fuck, this is so good!” His mouth was full, a few crumbs falling out of it.

Gerard smiled widely. “You have whipped cream on your nose.”

“What?” Frank quickly tried to wipe it away, but Gerard grabbed his hand and put it back in his lap.

“No, it’s cute. Here.” Gerard leaned in closer to Frank and wiped the whipped cream off of Frank’s nose with his thumb, putting it in his mouth. “Mmm.”

Frank watched as Gerard turned back to his own pastry, taking a large bite. He didn’t see Frank’s cheeks flush, and he certainly didn’t feel Frank’s body go warmer than usual. _Why am I blushing? It’s just Gerard._ Still, he couldn’t control the redness of his cheeks, or the slight tingles he felt in his body. He quickly finished his pastry, wiping his mouth and then turning to Gerard to watch him finish his pastry.

“Is it my turn to throw away the tissues?” Frank asked.

“I think so.” Gerard took one last bite of his pastry before wiping his mouth and folding his tissue into a neat square.

Frank took it from him. “Be back in a sec.”

Frank went to a nearby trashcan, throwing the tissues inside of it and lingering there for a little longer than he should have. His face was still red, and he still felt like he was floating or tingling. It was a strange feeling, something he had never felt before in his life. Even if it was in a game, it felt extremely real to him. He walked back to the bench and sat down next to Gerard, who was looking at his menu.

“I’m gonna go, but you’ll be on tomorrow at the regular time, right?” he asked, smiling. Frank nodded. “All right, see you tomorrow!”

Frank watched as Gerard’s avatar faded, and slowly brought up his own menu and logged himself out. He opened his eyes, taking off the PI-GEAR and setting it on his desk. Frank brought his hand up to his face, feeling warmth that usually wasn’t that intense, and walked out of his room and to the bathroom, where he looked in the mirror. His cheeks were flushed, and he still felt the slight fluttering in his chest as he thought about Gerard.

_Do I… Like him?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Genesis: an origin, creation, or beginning.


End file.
